Free riders and plants: The apprentice

I have not followed much the current series of "The apprentice" (from the BBC), but in the few things I have come across (of course "The apprentice" is everywhere these days even if you are watching the morning news), there is a striking situation.

There are free riders. Those who do not put themselves forward too much, and criticise those who do so. One of them has been already 'fired'. He said that he did not feel he needed to give much to his group in a task, as he was not asked or encouraged to do so. As if you do not swim when your ship is sinking because the captain of the ship did not tell you loud enough "swim!"

But there is another profile who is not getting the right recognition. It is the people with ideas. Those who venture to suggest things (and it is only a few of them). Project managers have to take whatever ideas are on offer from these people. And it could go either well or bad. Yesterday it went bad for one of the groups, but there was only one idea on the table. And the project manager was 'fired'.

I call these people the 'plants' (according to Belbin's classification of team profiles). They grow ideas, they provide 'oxygen' for other people to breathe, and they provide the life in the room. But they need to be cultivated, nurtured and looked after (by a group), and their ideas shaped so that they can be implemented. That does not happen in the 'apprentice'. Plants' ideas are taken almost literally, without discussion, without effort from the free riders. It is a 'everyman for himself' game.

The other sad thing is that free riders will be discovered and if they think they are doing well now by hiding, soon they will be found out.

Anyway, plants, these are brave characters which should be identified, nurtured. And project managers can learn their lesson of having free riders and plants. Good plans help, free riders will definitely not!!